This webzine is online since August 2010 and is completely dedicated to Electronic Music (EM) identified as the Berlin School style and its derived. You will find interviews but mostly reviews of ambient, sequenced and symphonic EM with a glimpse on other related genres. You have questions or want your music to be reviewed? Please read the 123 FAQ section attentively. Bear in mind the main purpose of this Blog. So welcome in and I hope it will guide you into the wonderful world of EM.

Realized on SynGate Wave, “Ecclesia” meets the expectations of the German label division with an impressive visit in music of the Cathedral Saint Gilles of Graz, Austria, composed by Richard Hasiba, better known under the name of Stan Dart. Recognized for his very melodious approach, Stan Dart is at a 2nd solo opus. And I must admit that's an impressive tour de force with about 2 hours of music which flirts with a New Synth-Pop, New Age and a rather comfortable EDM which is ideal for ears a little less adventurous. It's while working on his first solos album, Hometown Memories in 2016 which is inspired by Stan Dart's home town (Graz), that the Austrian musician plunged into the mysteries of this impressive cathedral with a very Gothic architecture. EM inspired by a church? That's the question asked by Stan Dart. And why not? The aficionados of Berlin School, as the England School (Robert Fox's Cathedral to name only this one), are used to the cathedral moods which encircle a sequencer-based style EM. Except that here we are not in the borders of Berlin School but rather in those of Enigma or yet ERA with, here and there, a weak but a weak link which ties to the atmospheres of the old German model of EM. And I tell it to you frankly, I spent a very good moment to savor an album which didn’t tell me that much at its first listening and which hides however some very beautiful moments.It's with a tick-tock from a clock that the ambiences of "Ecclesia I" infiltrate our listening room. The rhythm which comes of there is rather lively with a structure of mid-tempo where spin some slow stroboscopic effects and float murmurs of angels. There is a little suite of melodious chords which hangs onto our sense of hearing and which gets lost as the music wins in a techno rhythm pushed by violin wings. This melody will come back farther haunting again my listening which got lost when the music changed of register. "In Nomine (In the Name...)" follows with the same skeleton but in an approach more in the kind of New Synth-Pop, otherwise of good EDM. The breathes from the synth are rather attractive and drag us out of a universe which begun to graze my ears. But we always stay in the light and easily edible thing here. "Vita" changes the situation with a structure which is very near the IDM of Moonbooter. One likes it? You shall doubtless love "Vox Praeteritum (Voice from the Past)" which stars Lukas Hasiba on guitar, as well as the very EDM track "Sanctus". "Deus Misere (God Have Mercy)" is the first thing that caught my attention in “Ecclesia”. The rhythm is slow and sways to the beatings of the tom-toms. A very beautiful melody, attached by a delicate piano, pierces my eardrums and stays encrust deep there with its musical itch. The whole thing is wrapped of very nice beautiful ambiences which seem ideal for an evening fire in the Sahara. The Gregorian choirs a laEnigma, which are omnipresent in this double album, are concealed by a very beautiful melodic approach. It's a very mesmerizing title, as the mysterious "Hora Tenebrarum (The Dark Hour)", whose movement of sequences does very Berlin School and which also lay down a melody strummed in vibes deliciously mysterious.Between those two tracks there is "Malum (The Evil)" where the more or less ambient rhythm evokes a union between Synth Pop and New Age. The voice of Petra Bonmassar is in the tone. We also find it on "Via Laboriosa (The Ardous Way)" which is more theatrical and slightly more lively. To my surprise, the versions proposed without her participation, farther on the CD 2, have less flavor. "Ascensus (The Ascent)" is a track filled of very lugubrious moods, with strange gurgling, which gives cold in the back. "Hiems (Winter in the Heart)", which stars Mark Dorricott on piano, is a beautiful ballad in the pure style of Stan Dart. One gulps down easily and the melody eats our eardrums. "Lacrimosa Caeli" (The Lord is my Shepard)" begins the 2nd CD of “Ecclesia” with a liturgical slow tempo wrapped in a rather cinematographic envelope. The atmospheres are rather sober in a mixture of ERA and Enigma. If the monk chants are in Latin, the psalm is murmured in German by Hans Pock. "Exsurge Domine (Arise, O Lord)" is a nice little delicious title which mixes the mysteries of a Latin psalm in very Vangelis moods. The chants annoy me, but the music and the moods a laBlade Runner, a movie which is at the origin of the album Midnight, get the upper hand fast. "Ecclesia II" ends this opus with ecclesiastical character by an approach a little livelier than "Ecclesia I". After the instrumental versions of "Via Laboriosa" and "Malum", Stan Dart proposes a clearly more lounge, even sensual version, of "Vita", so concluding an album of which the diversity in the rhythms of EDM is dominated by this very Enigma / ERA approach and also by these obsessing melodies which are Stan Dart's signature.

Members of this Blog

Qui suis-je

Bonjour!
My name is Sylvain Lupari from Joliette in Quebec (Canada). I’m known as Phaedream all over the Internet since the beginning of 2000 where I started to write reviews. In 2005, I joined the French Webzine Guts of Darkness and on August 2010 I created a Blog, Synth & Sequences, which has reached the point of 1 000,000 visitors on February 2017 where I also wrote my 1354th review. In French and in English, I wrote more than reviews of EM albums.
This Blog is a huge success and reference about the music which sets my mind free over the years. Too many chronicles, so I have to split this Blog in several sections. Robert Schroeder is the first to welcome my thoughts on Webpress.
So, welcome to this part of my Blog Synth&Sequences which is devoted to the music, the tones and sounds of Aachen’s own Robert Schroeder.
Here you will find informations about his career and discography and latest news as well as deep reviews about his music, his albums.
My only wish is to guide you through his impressive career and may I suggest to visit regularly my Blog Synth & Sequences for more updates on EM.